Romania’s public television finished 2010 with a 162 million lei deficit about 38.47 million euro according to last year’s activity report. A year before, the institution registered a deficit of 48 million lei. The net business numbers of the public television in 2010 was 531.87 million lei, total revenues amounting to 571 million lei.

TVR General Director Alexandru Lazarescu writes that 2010 was a difficult year and that the public television went through various management and administrative changes and many financial recovery measures were taken on the spot which explains why effects were not felt immediately.

Lazarescu insists that the public television’s role was reconsidered and that the new approach focuses on debates, training programs, social campaigns, strategic partnership and change of ideas with the civil society, media professionals and the academics. Among others the report reads that the causes of the deficit were the sports copyrights which increased from 33 million lei in 2009 to over 101 million lei in 2010; the differences in the exchange rate from 3.5 million lei in 2009 to 16.3 million lei in 2010 and budgetary fines from 5 million lei in 2009 to 31 million lei in 2010.